myriad
Americannoun
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a very great or indefinitely great number of persons or things.
-
ten thousand.
adjective
noun
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(also used in plural) a large indefinite number
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archaic ten thousand
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of myriad
First recorded in 1545–55; from Greek mȳriad-, stem of mȳriás “ten thousand,” from mȳríos “countless”
Explanation
A myriad is a lot of something. If you’re talking about Ancient Greece, a myriad is ten thousand, but today you can use the word in myriad other ways. Myriad comes from the Greek myrioi, the word for ten thousand, or less specifically, a countless amount. Myriad can be a noun, like a myriad of choices, or an adjective, like when you study myriad subjects in college. If you lift a rock you might find a myriad of bugs. Sticklers often look down their noses at using myriad as a noun, but that usage came first.
Vocabulary lists containing myriad
Lord of the Flies
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Grade 10, List 2
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The Old Man and the Sea
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Myriad federal and state campaign-finance laws already regulate political activity, and separate specialized agencies, including the Federal Election Commission, administer those laws.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025
Myriad are the ways we seek to paraphrase art into digestible meaning.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 7, 2025
Myriad choices we make throughout the day and night maintain that balance.
From Scientific American • Aug. 15, 2023
Myriad embellished baubles — almost resembling wet pearls — organically dripped off a blown-up bolero jacket as if it had been created for a seaborne princess.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 23, 2023
In May 2009 the American Civil Liberties Union, several breast- cancer survivors, and professional groups representing more than 150,0 scientists sued Myriad Genetics over its breast-cancer gene patents.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
